August 20, 2021 VIA EMAIL Rebecca N. Sullivan Georgia State Elections Board Member 200 Piedmont Avenue SE Suite 1804, West Tower

August 20, 2021

VIA EMAIL

Rebecca N. Sullivan Georgia State Elections Board Member Records Management Specialist 200 Piedmont Avenue SE GA Department of Administrative Services Suite 1804, West Tower 1775 Spectrum Drive #100 Atlanta, GA 30334 Lawrenceville, GA 30043 [email protected] [email protected]

Re: Open Records Request

Dear State Election Board Member Sullivan:

Pursuant to the Georgia Open Records Law (O.C.G.A. §§ 50-18-70 et seq.), American Oversight makes the following request for records.

Requested Records

American Oversight requests that you produce the following within three business days:

1. All records reflecting communications (including emails, email attachments, text messages, messages on messaging platforms (such as Slack, GChat or Google Hangouts, Lync, Skype, Facebook Messenger, Twitter Direct Messages, or WhatsApp), telephone call logs, calendar invitations, calendar entries, meeting notices, meeting agendas, informational material, draft legislation, talking points, any handwritten or electronic notes taken during any oral communications, summaries of any oral communications, or other materials) between (a) State Election Board member Rebecca Sullivan, and (b) any of the Georgia General Assembly members or staff listed below (including, but not limited to, at the listed email addresses).

Georgia State Senate Staff: i. Ali Farmer, Legislative Assistant to Senator Albers ([email protected]) ii. Denese Sampson, Legislative Assistant to Senator Brass ([email protected]) iii. Leighton Kennedy, Legislative Assistant to Senators Kirkpatrick and Anderson ([email protected]) iv. Kylynn Gallagher, Legislative Assistant to Senator Anavitarte ([email protected]) v. Ryann Miller, Legislative Assistant to Senators Burke and Walker ([email protected]) vi. Caleb Rudin, Legislative Assistant to Senators Burns and Hickman ([email protected]) vii. Abbye [ZM1]Conrad, Legislative Assistant to Senators Dixon, Goodman, and Hatchett ([email protected]) viii. Tarika Jackson, Legislative Assistant to Senator Dolezal[ZM2] ([email protected]) ix. Ethan Stiles, Chief of Staff to Senator Dugan ([email protected]) x. Jacqueline Leathers, Legislative Assistant to Senator Dugan ([email protected]) xi. Emily Doppel, Legislative Assistant to Senators Ginn and Harper ([email protected]) xii. Gracie Boortz, Legislative Assistant to Senator Gooch ([email protected]) xiii. Jenna Does, Legislative Assistant to Senators Harbin and Thompson ([email protected]) xiv. Meaghan Kelling, Legislative Assistant to Senator McNeill ([email protected]) xv. Steve Tippins, Chief of Staff to Senator Miller ([email protected]) xvi. Adeline Frost, Legislative Assistant to Senator Miller ([email protected]) - 2 – MULTI-GA-21-1188-1189

xvii. Madeline Lara, Legislative Assistant to Senator Mullis ([email protected]) xviii. Phyllis Williams, Legislative Assistant to Senators Payne and Summers ([email protected]) xix. Kathleen Cominski, Legislative Assistant to Senators Strickland and Tillery ([email protected]) xx. Samantha Nix, Legislative Assistant to Senator Tippins ([email protected])

Georgia State Representatives: i. David Ralston ([email protected]) ii. Jan Jones ([email protected]) iii. Jon Burns ([email protected]) iv. Trey Kelley ([email protected]) v. Barry Fleming ([email protected]) vi. Alan Powell ([email protected])

Georgia House of Representatives Staff: i. Kathy Little, Executive Assistant to Speaker Ralston ([email protected]) ii. Keith Williams, General Counsel to Speaker Ralston ([email protected]) iii. Spiro Amburn, Chief of Staff to Speaker Ralston ([email protected]) iv. Sheena Wright, Administrative Assistant to Speaker pro tempore Jones ([email protected]) v. Kailyn Duesler, Administrative Assistant to Majority Leader Burns ([email protected]) vi. Natalie Stroud, Counsel to Majority Leader Burns ([email protected]) vii. Wanda Scull, Executive Assistant to Majority Whip Kelley ([email protected]) viii. Madeleine Moghimi, Administrative Assistant to Representative Fleming ([email protected]) ix. Jan Brown, Administrative Assistant to Representative Powell ([email protected])

2. All email communications (including emails, email attachments, complete email chains, calendar invitations, and calendar attachments) sent by State Election Board member Rebecca Sullivan regarding any request, proposal, or effort to (a) review, audit, or investigate Fulton County’s election administration (including, but not limited to, a performance review of any Fulton County local election official), (2) remove any Fulton County local election official, or (3) appoint a temporary superintendent to oversee Fulton County’s elections.

In an effort to accommodate you and reduce the number of potentially responsive records to be processed and produced, American Oversight has - 3 – MULTI-GA-21-1188-1189

limited request 2 to emails sent by the listed State Election Board Members. To be clear, however, American Oversight still requests that complete email chains be produced, displaying both sent and received messages. This means, for example, that both the SEB member’s response to an email concerning a requested performance review of Fulton County’s elections chief Richard Barron and the initial received message are responsive to this request and should be produced.

3. All text messages or messages on messaging platforms (such as Slack, GChat or Google Hangouts, Lync, Skype, Facebook Messenger, Twitter Direct Messages, or WhatsApp) sent or received by State Election Board member Rebecca Sullivan regarding any request, proposal, or effort to (a) review, audit, or investigate Fulton County’s election administration (including, but not limited to, a performance review of any Fulton County local election official), (2) remove any Fulton County local election official, or (3) appoint a temporary superintendent to oversee Fulton County’s elections.

To be clear, American Oversight requests that full text message threads/conversations be produced. For example, if an SEB member sent or received a text message regarding one of the topics outlined above, the complete thread/conversation for the timeframe listed below should be produced, and not just the message containing the key term.

For request items 2 and 3, we believe the State Election Board members, as records custodians, are best suited to identify responsive emails, text messages, and messages on messaging platforms. However, we believe records containing the following terms are likely to be responsive and ask that, at a minimum, you search for records containing the terms identified below.

Search Terms: i. Barron viii. Kirkpatrick ii. Fulton ix. “Performance review” iii. Audit x. 21-2-106 iv. RLA xi. 21-2-33.2 v. Miller xii. Ballots vi. Albers xiii. Superintendent vii. Brass xiv. “Local election official”

For all parts of this request, please provide all responsive records from July 20, 2021, through the date the request is received.

Please notify American Oversight of any anticipated fees or costs in excess of $100 prior to incurring such costs or fees.

- 4 – MULTI-GA-21-1188-1189

Guidance Regarding the Search & Processing of Requested Records

In connection with its request for records, American Oversight provides the following guidance regarding the scope of the records sought and the search and processing of records:

§ Please search all locations and systems likely to have responsive records, regardless of format, medium, or physical characteristics. For instance, if the request seeks “communications,” please search all locations likely to contain communications, including relevant hard-copy files, correspondence files, appropriate locations on hard drives and shared drives, emails, text messages or other direct messaging systems (such as iMessage, WhatsApp, Signal, or Twitter direct messages), voicemail messages, instant messaging systems such as Lync or ICQ, and shared messages systems such as Slack.

§ In conducting your search, please understand the terms “record,” “document,” and “information” in their broadest sense, to include any written, typed, recorded, graphic, printed, or audio material of any kind. We seek records of any kind, including electronic records, audiotapes, videotapes, and photographs, as well as letters, emails, facsimiles, telephone messages, voice mail messages and transcripts, notes, or minutes of any meetings, telephone conversations or discussions.

§ Our request for records includes any attachments to those records or other materials enclosed with those records when they were previously transmitted. To the extent that an email is responsive to our request, our request includes all prior messages sent or received in that email chain, as well as any attachments to the email.

§ Please search all relevant records or systems containing records regarding agency business. Do not exclude records regarding agency business contained in files, email accounts, or devices in the personal custody of your officials, such as personal email accounts or text messages. Records of official business conducted using unofficial systems or stored outside of official files are subject to the Open Records Act.1

§ In the event some portions of the requested records are properly exempt from disclosure, please disclose any reasonably segregable non-exempt portions of the requested records. If a request is denied in whole, please state specifically why it is not reasonable to segregate portions of the record for release.

§ Please take appropriate steps to ensure that records responsive to this request are not deleted by the agency before the completion of processing for this request. If records potentially responsive to this request are likely to be located on systems where they are subject to potential deletion, including on a scheduled

1 O.C.G.A. § 50-18-70(b)(2). - 5 – MULTI-GA-21-1188-1189

basis, please take steps to prevent that deletion, including, as appropriate, by instituting a litigation hold on those records.

If you have any questions regarding how to construe this request for records or believe that further discussions regarding search and processing would facilitate a more efficient production of records of interest to American Oversight, please do not hesitate to contact American Oversight to discuss this request. American Oversight welcomes an opportunity to discuss its request with you before you undertake your search or incur search or duplication costs. By working together at the outset, American Oversight and your agency can decrease the likelihood of costly and time-consuming litigation in the future.

Where possible, please provide responsive material in an electronic format by email. Alternatively, please provide responsive material in native format or in PDF format on a USB drive. Please send any responsive material being sent by mail to American Oversight, 1030 15th Street NW, Suite B255, Washington, DC 20005. If it will accelerate release of responsive records to American Oversight, please also provide responsive material on a rolling basis.

Conclusion

American Oversight is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit with the mission to promote transparency in government, to educate the public about government activities, and to ensure the accountability of government officials. American Oversight uses the information gathered, and its analysis of it, to educate the public through reports, press releases, or other media. American Oversight also makes materials it gathers available on its public website and promotes their availability on social media platforms, such as Facebook and Twitter.2

We share a common mission to promote transparency in government. American Oversight looks forward to working with you on this request. If you do not understand any part of this request, have any questions, or foresee any problems in fully releasing the requested records, please contact Khahilia Shaw at [email protected] or 202.539.6507.

Sincerely,

/s/ Khahilia Shaw Khahilia Shaw on behalf of American Oversight

2 American Oversight currently has approximately 15,640 page likes on Facebook and 107,500 followers on Twitter. American Oversight, Facebook, https://www.facebook.com/weareoversight/ (last visited Aug. 19, 2021); American Oversight (@weareoversight), TWITTER, https://twitter.com/weareoversight (last visited Aug. 19, 2021). - 6 – MULTI-GA-21-1188-1189